ART OF PROGRAMMING

Let us consider a simple BASIC program which checks marks of each student and count the number of students passed. Using this program, we will try to learn the nuance of this art .

A program is made of three fundamental components namely 1. sequential flow 2. conditional flow, 3. repetitive flow.

1. Statements from line 10 to 40 are just flowing sequentially. Line 10 is just a title. Rem means remark. 20 initiates a counter. Pass marks is fixed in 30. In line 40, N stores number of students. These statements are executed one by one.

2. Line no. 50 to 80 is executed repeatedly. That is, the statements 60 and 70 is executed 10 times since N =10. Each time the control comes to line 60, it READs a value from DATA statement (line 90) and store it in "MARK".

3. When the control comes to line 70, it makes a decision. If the mark is equal to or greater than pass mark, the count is increased by 1. If the condition is not met, the control just goes to 90- next mark. So the "if" statement is also called branching statement.

Line 100 output the result.

Mainly using these three components, any complicated program can be built. No coding is possible without them.

Other points to ponder:
Count, passmark are names of storage (Memory) in which relevant values are stored.
The statements between FOR and NEXT is repeatedly executed N times.
Count = count + 1 means 1 is added to the old value of "count" and the new value replaces the old one.

A program is snapshot of working of an engine. It is the action frozen in codes. It is like a sport's still photo. When the program is fed into the computer, it comes to life. It takes inputs, process them and gives output.
Programming is the new age skill that everybody should learn. It is creative, entertaining and solves problems.

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